This thesis presents the results of the research conducted between 2001 and 2006 on the design and implementation of a Web tool for the on-line education of aviation pilots.

The research conducted on the Web tool and its use has the following goals:1. To design a virtual campus for the on-line education of pilots.2. To develop this tool in less than one year.3. To implement the tool with the CESDA on-line studies.4. To evaluate the tool's performance using the data recorded during the last four courses. The goals are divided into two groups, the first three, were developed prior to the start of the first course. The second, comprising the fourth objective, has been developed analysing a series of specific objectives that have enabled us to draw conclusions about the design and structure of the tool, its ease of use, its usefulness in training, etc.To that end It's been conducted a longitudinal study from the information collected during four courses between 2002 and 2006, analysing data stored in databases with information from questionnaires, registration, academic grades, logs, files with the users activity records of the tool, forums, etc.In this study we have analysed a number of indicators among which are:· The connectivity and access to the campus and the web of every subject.· The movements within the different sections of the web of every subject. · The amount of educational resources available in each section. · The success of virtualization in terms of enrolment and academic grades. · Users profiles and their activity in forums

With the obtained results we can see whether the design of the campus has been correct and in any case, we obtain conclusions about it, to help us design the improvements necessary to optimize it.The thesis report is structured in three blocks:The first set is devoted to the theoretical foundations on which the decisions have been based to design the virtual campus tool. It consists of four chapters:· The first deals with society and education aspects, the new educational framework associated with current technology and ICT. It addresses concepts such as distance education, open, flexible, tele-education, etc.· The second takes a look at the main tools of the Internet and its applications, such as e-mail, forums, FTP, paying particular attention to the Web and Web tools environments.· The third deals with distance learning environments, where we see how to use ICT tools in training, analyzing environments dedicated to this purpose, namely the virtual campuses.· The fourth presents the education of pilots, the birth of CESDA and aspects related to the academic offer, on-line and presential.The second group consists of a chapter which describes the virtual campus and the design decisions taken in its construction. We present campus functions for each type of user. The third section describes the research conducted and the results obtained by analyzing various aspects of the virtual campus and the operation of the studies together with user activity logs generated during 4 years. These tests have enabled us to obtain a set of conclusions about different aspects of the tool, its design, its results and its use by its users, which have been presented with a series of proposals to improve different aspects of the tool.